Photo: Gesi Schilling/Knight Foundation
Photo: Sterling Bay
Photo: PortMiami
Photo: Rendering: Kobi Karp Architecture
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Miami-Dade Roundup
Knight's New Leader
SPOTLIGHT
A veteran journalist and Miami native has been tapped as the president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Former USA Today publisher Maribel Perez Wadsworth spent more than 30 years working as a journalist, starting as an editorial assistant for the Associated Press in 1994. She spent 26 years with Gannett, moving to its corporate offices in 2009 to work on digital and audience transformation.
Wadsworth is Knight’s seventh president and the first woman to lead the philanthropy. She succeeds former Miami Herald publisher Alberto Ibargüen, who retired after nearly 20 years leading the foundation and overseeing $2.3 billion in grants.
Knight has a $2.6-billion endowment and issues about $135 million each year in grants to support journalism, the arts, technology and community groups. It is part of the natiowide Press Forward campaign, which seeks to raise $1 billion to support local news.
“Knight Foundation is a leader at the nexus of the things I care about so deeply — journalistic excellence and defense of the First Amendment, fostering engaged citizenry, and building thriving, inclusive communities — all in service of sustaining a strong democracy,” Wadsworth says. “The opportunity to lead this organization is a tremendous honor and an awesome responsibility.”
HIGHER EDUCATION
- Kenneth Hall has joined Florida International University as senior vice president of university advancement and CEO of the FIU Foundation. Hall had been Penn State University’s assistant vice president for development, helping design a $2.2-billion fundraising campaign. FIU President Kenneth A. Jessell said he wants Hall to build upon the school’s Next Horizon campaign that ended last summer after raising more than $750 million.
- Baptist Health may become a teaching hospital in partnership with Florida International University’s medical school to expand physician training, undergraduate and graduate medical education programs, clinical research and patient care. An enhanced affiliation agreement aims to reduce a burgeoning shortage of physicians through residencies and other programs that encourage physicians to practice in the community. Baptist Health and FIU have partnered for more than a decade on clinical residencies and by having Baptist Health physicians serve on the FIU faculty.
HOUSING
- Nearly half of all Miami-Dade County households are spending 30% or more of their income just on housing costs, the University of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies reports. And things still may get worse. Miami-Dade needs 90,000 more affordable housing units today to meet the needs of families making less than 80% of the median income; that number could grow to 116,000 units by 2030. New job growth is expected for service workers, medical assistants, home health aides and warehouse staffing — jobs that pay a median wage of $19 per hour or less, which places most housing out of reach. “These employees can afford housing that costs $650 to $1,000 per month, which is nearly impossible to find in one of the country’s most expensive housing markets,” says Anne Ray, manager of the Shimberg Center’s Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse.
RETAIL
- Thermomix has opened its first U.S. retail outlet in Doral. The “smart kitchen” company sells an assortment of culinary tools, but the big draw is Its all-in-one TM6 cooker featuring a touch-screen control panel, mixing blades to blend or process food, a bread maker and a rice cooker among its 28 functions. The “kitchen robot” connects to its own 80,000-recipe online recipe platform and retails for $1,499. German-owned Thermomix, founded in 1971, had $30 million in U.S. sales in 2022 and is pushing aggressive coast-to-coast expansion efforts.
- TOURISM
- R-Evolution, artist Marco Cochrane’s 45-foot, 32,000-pound kinetic sculpture of a woman, is on display on Lincoln Road. The statue debuted at the Burning Man festival in 2015. It glows in sunlight and illuminates at night, with 16 motors in the sculpture’s chest simulating breathing. It’s on display until April 30.
- Entrance fees to Everglades National Park increased by about $5 for most visitors. For cars and vessels, a seven-day pass now costs $35. Seven-day motorcycle passes went up to $30, and an annual pass increased from $55 to $70. For commercial vehicles, minibuses and motor coaches, access increased by $100. It’s the first rate increase since 2019, the National Park Service says, and is aimed at standardizing fees at parks across the country. The park spans 1.5 million acres in Monroe, Miami- Dade and Collier counties.
